On the eve of the big Weltklasse Wanda Diamond League meeting in Zurich on Wednesday night (4), there could only be one winner of the highlight 100m head-to-head when the starting gun fired following all of the pre-race drama in front of the crowded Letzigrund Stadion grandstand.
“I’m not saying I’m going to kick your ass, but I’ll give you a run for your money,” Mondo Duplantis had joked when he challenged Karsten Warholm during a training session ahead of the Monaco Diamond League last year.
The young Swede, who has broken the pole vault world record ten times, did more than just give the fastest 400m hurdler of all time a run for his money. After entering the arena in boxing-style robes, Duplantis surged out of the blocks, leading from start to finish and crossing the line in 10.37 seconds (0.1m/s), a personal best that was 0.2 seconds faster than the time he set in high school in 2018.
Warholm clocked 10.47, just 0.02 seconds inside his own six-year-old lifetime best.
“I’ve got to give it to Mondo – he beat me fair and square,” said Warholm, the three-time world 400m hurdles champion. “He got out of the blocks really fast. It was a great race.”
The packed grandstand enjoyed every moment, including Fred Kerley, the 2022 world 100m champion from the US, who had practiced starts with Duplantis in preparation for the big Zurich showdown.
“I’m pretty fired up,” said a jubilant Duplantis. “Since the Olympics, I haven’t touched a pole in training, only blocks. I love to sprint. I think it’s the greatest thing ever. There’s no better feeling at all that compares to that split second before the gun goes off and you’re just there waiting for it. Everything just kind of releases when it happens. It’s like the biggest bundle of energy you could ever have.”
Warholm had some expert help too. “I actually sent my block starts videos to Usain Bolt,” he revealed. “He said, ‘You shouldn’t walk out the blocks. You should push.’”
Though Warholm didn’t push fast enough this time, he’ll be donning a Swedish uniform in Thursday’s 400m hurdles as part of a forfeit, thanks to Duplantis’s victory.
Earlier in the evening, Australian pole vaulter Nina Kennedy secured her third successive Zurich Diamond League victory, in an event held at Zurich’s Hauptbahnhof, the city’s main train station. Kennedy took just 95 minutes to win, clearing 4.87m on her first attempt. The victory was less than half the duration of the marathon pole vault final in Paris last month, where she clinched Olympic gold.
While her fellow Olympic medallists, Alysha Newman and Katie Moon, both bowed out after clearing 4.82m, Kennedy raised the bar to 4.95m. She had her sights set on breaking the six-year-old Oceanian record of 4.94m held by New Zealand’s Eliza McCartney and the 4.92m world lead belonging to Britain’s Molly Caudery.
Kennedy, who set an Australian record of 4.91m at the Hauptbahnhof last year, missed her first attempt at 4.95m. A temporary fault with the uprights delayed her next attempt, and despite a second chance at her first attempt, she couldn’t clear the bar.
Nevertheless, Kennedy completed a Zurich hat-trick, her fourth Diamond League win of the season after victories in London, Monaco, and Rome. She heads into next week’s final in Brussels on a winning streak of seven consecutive competitions.
“I love Zurich so much,” said the 27-year-old, whose only prior miss was her first-time effort at 4.82m. “This is an amazing place to jump. I wanted to come here and jump 4.95, but unfortunately, I didn’t. I don’t know about being unbeatable. These girls are pushing me. I had to work hard today.”
Newman, the Olympic bronze medallist, took second place with a second-time clearance at 4.82m, just one centimeter shy of her Canadian indoor record. Moon, who shared the world outdoor title with Kennedy in Budapest last year, took third after needing three attempts to clear the same height.
